388 THE^ WILD-FOWLER. 



h 



remain tlaere until tlie ebb tide has run out and left tliern upon the 

 land, when the boatmen and inhabitants fall upon them and g-enerally 

 kill or capture every bird. These droves of fowl are sometimes so 

 larg-e, that twenty or thirty birds fall to the share of each person who 

 partakes in the scramble. 



At the entrance to the river Ochotska this practice of wild-fowling' 

 is very frequent, and often abundantly successful.* 



The Kamtschadales also freely use fish-hooks for the purpose of 

 fowling : they bait them with small fish, and take many of the crane 

 and heron species in that manner. This is one of their few modes of 

 fowling' at other than the moulting' season. 



They are also particularly expert in taking" rock-birds with nooses 

 attached to long poles. They climb the big-best and most preci- 

 pitous rocks in search of birds ; and, at the hazard of their lives, 

 sometimes crawl to the brink of fearful-looking" precipices, where they 

 cautiously slip the noose over the heads of their victims, and snatch 

 them from their roost one at a time as they sit on the ledges of the 

 rock. When skilfully performed, a whole roost of fowl may some- 

 times be taken one after another, with so little noise as not to awake 

 or disturb their next companions on the same ledge. 



Pennant mention^ that the Greenlanders, in their little canoes, 

 pursue wild-ducks, and kill them with darts. They watch the course 

 taken by the bird on diving ; and, following in the track of the air- 

 bubbles, strike the moment it rises to the surface. But this pursuit 

 must, obviously, be limited to the duration of the moulting season, 

 when wild-ducks are unable to fly. It is unreasonable to suppose 

 that a bird g-ifted with the power of flight would fail to make use of 

 such power to save its life when closely pursued by a Greenlander, 

 any more than it would if pursued in this country under similar cir- 

 cumstances by an Englishman. 



Larg"e numbers of wild-g'eese are also caught in Russia with day nets. 

 These birds are so abundant in some parts of that country that much 

 more value is put upon their down and feathers than their flesh, 

 though numbers of them when captured and stripped of their 

 valuable coating's are smoked and hung" for winter food.f 



The manner in which the Eussian fowler conducts these operations 



* KraslieninicofF's History of Kamtscliatka. 



t Vide Bell's Travels in Asia. Description of a Journey from Surgute to 

 Moscow. 



